OTTAWA - Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that a federal patent court in England has ruled in favor of the maker of BlackBerry e-mail device and against patent holding company InPro Licensing.

RIM said the English court decided that all claims in InPro's United Kingdom patent were invalid. InPro has the right to appeal the decision, RIM added.

Last week, a German court decided all claims in InPro's equivalent German-designated patent were invalid.

The decision comes one day after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sided with RIM, and issued a preliminary rejection of a fifth patent in a heated court battle with patent holding company NTP Inc.

RIM is preparing for a Feb. 24 hearing in a U.S. district court, which could be the final legal step before a judge decides whether to impose an injunction on RIM.

RIM is trying to fend off a 2003 patent infringement ruling that NTP won against the company.

Separately Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department urged a U.S. federal judge to refrain from any plans to shut down BlackBerry service until the government gets more assurances its users will be exempted.

Shares in RIM rose 9 percent to $73.61 on Nasdaq Wednesday after the patent decision and then added as much as 1.9 percent more to $75 a share on Inet in after-hours trading after the justice department's court filing.